


At Second Sight

by factorielle



Category: Ookiku Furikabutte
Genre: Animals, First Meetings, Fluff, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-06-25
Updated: 2010-06-25
Packaged: 2017-10-10 06:54:06
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,272
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/96847
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/factorielle/pseuds/factorielle
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Tajima comes home at the end of his first day on the Nishiura baseball team - and something's gone wrong.</p>
            </blockquote>





	At Second Sight

It's already dark by the time coach lets them go. Tajima would have liked to strike up a conversation with his new teammates, but he'd expected to be back over an hour ago, so he decides to leave it for later.

He runs home for the hell of it, trying to vent some of the pent-up energy he accumulated watching those at-bats. Even without having faced him, he can tell that the pitcher is something special, different from any of the ones he's played with or against. There's no telling what that means yet, but it looks that he and the catcher are a good match, so things should go well. The pitcher might be in his class, too, along with a couple of the other guys. He'll have to check and make sure in the morning, though. He should be able to recognize them now, at least, even if he can't remember all the names.

Most of the other players look like good guys, too, and even if there are barely enough of them for a complete team, with the female coach and her huge rack, Tajima is pretty sure it's going to be an interesting year.

"I'm home," he calls when he opens the door, but nobody's there to greet him, which is rare enough to make him frown. But if something had happened, he would have seen it, right? And grandpa was in the field not that long ago.

After a moment's search he finds his mother in the garden, peering behind the shed.

"Welcome home, Yuuichirou," she says as usual, but she looks worried and with nobody else in the house, he can tell something bad happened even before she brings a hand to her mouth. "Maiya escaped when your brother came home. I wouldn't usually be worried, but the veterinarian did say she should stay inside until her injury healed completely, and I can't seem to find her."

Tajima straightens, still strung up from the afternoon, any tiredness evaporating in a moment. "Everyone went looking for her, right? I'll go, too! Call me if you find her!" He spins around and rushes back inside, only stopping to grab his phone from his school bag before he's out the door again, heart beating wildly, trying to figure out where their cat could have gone.

As he runs down the street, he can't help but remember finding her at the door last week, a long, deep gash running across her flank and almost up to her neck, meowing piteously. It's not his fault, the vet explained, these things happen all the time, but he was the one who let her out the evening before, and what if he'd waited a couple more hours before going to get the mail that morning? What if he hadn't found her in time? She's been skittish ever since, with him more than the rest of the family, trying to get outside at any occasion, but she's still weak and there are nasty animals out there and he's _got_ to find her.

She doesn't like the fields, usually, so at least that should be out, but where else? He didn't even think to ask when she ran away, so how far could she have gone? For ten minutes he checks in every gutter, behind every bin, through every fence, but there's nothing. Once, he hears a meow from atop a wall, but he doesn't even have time to hope before seeing it's a large tomcat, who starts hissing and spitting at him the moment he turns to look.

Momentarily discouraged, Tajima stops running for a moment, takes the time to check that nobody's called or emailed him since he left -it's been almost half an hour already- and turns the corner to find someone crouching by the sidewalk.

It's the guy who played in the at-bats earlier, Tajima realizes when he sees the blue hat. He veers off course, intent on asking if he's seen Maiya, but he gets up without noticing Tajima at all (he's unpleasantly tall), and starts heading the other way.

Tajima barely hesitates. He didn't exactly get a good first impression, but that doesn't mean the guy wouldn't help if asked, right?

"Hey!"

Instead of stopping, the guy actually accelerates.

_Asshole_, Tajima thinks, breaking into a run. "Hey, wait!" He catches up after a few seconds, overtakes him, whirls around. "You're Hanai, rig--" What he sees makes him stop mid-word: the guy's arms are crossed over his chest, and the ball of fur wrapped in them is making a fair attempt at burrowing under his armpit.

It also has a long patched of shaved skin, and stitches in the middle.

Relief sweeps through Tajima, making the knot in his stomach come loose and all the tension evaporate. "You found her!" he says, looking up; but the guy is all frowns and takes a step back.

"This is your cat? You shouldn't let it run around outside with that kind of wound."

"She escaped," Tajima explains, trying to check if any if the stitches have been pulled. It's not easy, with Hanai's large hand blocking most of his view. But she doesn't sound like she's in pain, so it should be fine. He takes a step back, waits a beat. Hanai doesn't move, his face still scrunched up.

"Give her to me? Everyone's worried at home."

The pause is a little too long, but eventually Hanai nods, and starts unfolding his arms as Tajima reaches for Maiya. She reacts by thrusting all her claws out and attaching herself to the guy's upper arm.

Tajima grimaces. It must hurt, if she went all the way through his clothes. The sweater doesn't look that thick; she's probably scraped the skin, but Hanai barely twitched.

"Looks like she likes you. Usually she hates strangers so much, she's better at guarding the house than our dog. " He laughs. She's a good judge of character; Hanai must be a good guy, even if he's not easy to talk to. "You shouldn't try to pull her off, she'll destroy your sweater. Wait a minute." He grabs his phone, holds up a finger as he calls home to check in and tell his mom to make an appointment with the vet, then smiles up at Hanai. "You wanna hang out until she lets go?"

He doesn't look too enthused by the idea, but nods anyway, and follows Tajima to the nearest bench, angling his arm awkwardly to support Maiya's weight.

"So, you're joining the baseball club after all?"

Hanai gives a one-shoulder shrug. "I guess so," he answers, looking the other way.

"Good!" He's got good arms from what Tajima's seen, and a decent eye according to the catcher. Plus, with that frame, he should be the kind of guy who can get a ball far into the outfield. "You were clean-up for your old team, right?"

A curt nod, and Maiya purrs when he tickles her under her chin.

"We'll be rivals, then!"

"Don't get elated!" Hanai protests loudly, his head whipping around even as his upper body stays perfectly still. "I haven't even seen you play!" It would maybe have been a little shocking, if the effect hadn't been broken by Maiya climbing up and beginning to knead his shoulder. Tajima takes the opportunity to pick her up, noticing Hanai's expression soften when he's careful not to touch the wound. She meows softly, once, but lets herself be taken away and doesn't protest any further as he gets up.

"You'll see me," Tajima promises, grinning at his new teammate. "I look forward to playing with you."


End file.
